The mission of the Committee on Project SEED is to assure that high school students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds have opportunities to experience the challenge and rewards of chemically related sciences through opportunities for summer research.
To make a high quality Program SEED program accessible to all qualified students throughout the United States.
ACS Project SEED program has been active since 1968. It has grown from a small pilot program to the point that it is now has summer research programs in 36 states with a budget of over $1 million. It has been most successful in places that have a well-developed academic/industrial chemical base and where there are one or more people willing to work as coordinators. In addition, over the last 15 years, 372 SEED Scholarships have been awarded to former SEED students to attend college.
The program shares the core values of the “ACS Strategic Plan for 2009 and Beyond”:
There is a passion for chemistry in the broadest sense amongst the coordinators and mentors, and the program seeks to instill that passion in high school students through their summer research. Thus, the program educates students by involving then in research, promoting innovation, and addressing issues that face many of today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
There is a focus on members through the contributions of the many volunteers as financial donors, coordinators, mentors, and active members of the Committee on Project SEED.
The program promotes professionalism as coordinators and mentors work with high school students to expose them to the professional life of chemistry, to its approach to problem solving, and to its ethical use to address problems facing today’s world.
The program impacts the lives of a diverse audience of economically disadvantaged students who ultimately become chemical professionals because of the Project SEED opportunity.
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